'I speak today as a father,' Jesse Jackson Sr. on sentence

Kass on Jacksons' sentences: 'Are you kidding me?'

August 14, 2013 3:55 PM EDT

Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass reacts to the prison times given to Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife, Sandi for separate felonies involving the misspending of about $750,000 in campaign funds. (Posted on: August 14, 2013)

WASHINGTON – The end of the Jackson family political dynasty arrived Wednesday as a Chicago power couple ready-made for the cameras learned the next few years of their lives will be spent taking turns in prison.

Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., the civil rights leader's son who once dreamed of becoming mayor or senator, and his wife, former 7th Ward Ald. Sandi Jackson, were tripped up by a taste for luxury that was bankrolled with $750,000 from campaign funds.

On their day of reckoning, the Jacksons brought up a host of personal struggles in an effort to inspire sympathy: his reported mental illness, her series of miscarriages, the plight of their two children if they lost their mother to prison.

In the end, the former congressman got 30 months in federal prison and could end up serving about five months less if he behaves behind bars. The former alderman got a year and stands to serve it all.

Jackson Jr. was given until at least Nov. 1 to begin his prison term.

Federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson said supporters of the former congressman — including his own father — had urged her in letters to put him on probation. If she were to do so, she said, it would appear as if there were two systems of justice, "one for the well-connected and one for everybody else."

"I cannot do it," she intoned. "And I will not do it."

She shot down the notion, brought up by the defense, that elected officials once considered campaign accounts to be retirement funds.

While acknowledging the good the Jacksons had done in office, she lambasted Jackson Jr.'s misdeeds as "knowing, organized, joint misconduct repeated and then covered up."

She said Sandi Jackson was not a spouse who passively received the ill-gotten gains of crimes but one who knowingly spent thousands illegally on her personal whims. The judge noted that Sandi Jackson had served variously as campaign treasurer, campaign manager and consultant for the congressman.

"You were a key player in the Jesse Jackson campaign. Together, you were the campaign," the judge told Sandi Jackson.

"You are standing here to be sentenced because of your own significant and illegal conduct," the judge said.

The Jacksons' sentences were lighter than prosecutors had recommended. They wanted four years for him and 18 months for her. Defense lawyers wanted him to serve 18 months.

Sandi Jackson's lawyers did not get the probation they had sought for her, but they did get an order from the judge allowing her to remain free until her husband finishes serving his time.

In another break, Jackson Jr. won't have to return $750,000 to his campaign fund, but must pay a $750,000 forfeiture as agreed when he pleaded guilty in February.

Additionally, her plea deal called for her to pay $168,550, representing unpaid taxes, but the judge ordered her to pay only $22,000 in restitution. The sum represents money she misused from her own political accounts.

The Jacksons cried as they addressed the judge separately before sentencing.

"I didn't separate my personal life from my political activities, and I couldn't have been more wrong," said Jackson Jr., who paused to dry his eyes and blow his nose.

Jackson Jr. apologized for his crimes and expressed regrets to his mother and father.

"Your honor, throughout this process I've asked the government and the court to hold me and only me accountable for my actions," he said.